Blog: Ideas and Living

How often has this happened? You need to do something quick and important on your phone: Add something to a list... look something up.

And when you open your phone, you find a social media stream or an Inbox or something else that completely takes you "off mission".

Finally, after much smacking of the like-button, you must struggle heroically to remember what that tiny little task was that made you reach for your phone in the first place.

Smartphones are good devices because they are portable computers with full access to the internet. But they are also in the business of redirecting your attention to the unimportant. Once you know the nature of the game, you can start adjusting your strategy.

Do This: Order Siri or Okay-Google to launch apps so that at least we start in the right app.

This avoids the problem of having had something open when you last locked your device. And bonus... if you find that you are embarrased by how often you say out loud, "Launch (Facebook|Twitter)," you might find that the social pressure of your friends making fun of you is enough to make you put yourself in social-media rehab.